Newbury Park High School
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| Newbury Park High School |
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| Established | 1967 |
| Type | Public high school |
| Principal | Athol Wong |
| Faculty | 101 |
| Students | 2,320 |
| Location | Newbury Park, California USA |
| Athletics | 45 Teams |
| Mascot | Panther |
| Website | NPHS |
Newbury Park High School, founded in 1967, is a co-educational public school located in Newbury Park, California. The school currently has approximately 2,320 students registered as of the 2006-2007 year. Newbury Park is an International Baccalaureate World School and home of the Panthers.
NPHS was named a recipient of the No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon School award in 2006.
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[edit] General Information
Newbury Park High School, a “California Distinguished School” and International Baccalaureate World School, is one of three four-year comprehensive high schools in the Conejo Valley Unified School District. Newbury Park High School is located in Newbury Park, California, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles and fifty-five miles southeast of Santa Barbara. The school was built in 1967.
Newbury Park High School provides a well-balanced curriculum for every student. The high school offers an intensive block schedule that includes three ninety-five minute class periods plus two forty-five minute class periods, one at the beginning and one at the end of the school day. Instructional levels include International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, Honors, College Prep, Standard, and Basic. Unique needs are met through GATE, English Language Development, Resource, Special Day, and Vocational Education programs.
[edit] Academics
Newbury Park High School is widely regarded as one of the top schools in the Conejo Valley. The school distinguishes itself academically with its International Baccalaureate diploma program. Being the only International Baccalaureate school Ventura County, Newbury Park attracts an array of high caliber students looking to challenge themselves academically. Newbury Park graduates are well prepared for college. In the 2005-2006 graduating class, Newbury Park sent students to many distinguished schools including Stanford, Caltech, and University of Pennsylvania. In addition, many Newbury Park graduates go on to attend one of the highly accredited UC or Cal-State schools.
[edit] Clubs and Academic Teams
Newbury Park High School boasts an outstanding number of 44 academic teams and clubs. The Interact Club, a social service club sponsored by Rotary International, is the largest club on campus with well over sixty members. In addition, NPHS is home to four competitive academic teams including: Academic Decathalon, Academic Competitions, Mock Trial, and Speech and Debate. Speech and Debate is clearly the most distinguished club on campus, with Panthers routinely winning competitions at regional, sectional, and state levels.
[edit] Performing Arts
NPHS features several programs in the Performing Arts. They include a strong Band and Pageantry program, a well-developed choral department featuring a large Concert Choir and a small Chamber Choir, a fine drama program, and a dance program. The pride of the school is the Newbury Park High School Marching Band. The top-ranked Band and Pageantry has won WBA California State Championships in 2003, 2005, and 2006.
The NPHS performing arts department was given a major boost with the recent construction of a new performing arts center. The performing arts center, or PAC for short, is used for both performing arts events and school assemblies. Last year's performance of Aida was a huge success and the drama department is now working on West Side Story.
[edit] Panther Athletics
Newbury Park High School is traditionally not known for its athletics but has had success in recent years. Notably, the 2005-2006 girls basketball team advanced far into CIF play before losing. Also, during the 2006-2007 school year, the Newbury Park girls tennis team also was very successful. While the team as a whole had a respectable record, their #1 singles player went on to win the Marmonte League. She was hampered by injuries and lost in CIF Sectionals.
[edit] Community Involvement
Newbury Park High School has been aided by the generous donations of numerous sponsors around the community. Most notably, Applied Molecular Genetics, or Amgen, has been a key donor in helping build new state of the art facilities on campus. This includes a new field-turf football field and a performing arts center.
In addition, Newbury Park has received money from the new housing development Dos Vientos. In a controversial decision, revenues from the Dos Vientos community were split among the three high schools in the Conejo Valley, even though the majority of Dos Vientos students attend NPHS.
With the increased growth of Amgen, Newbury Park has experienced an influx of high-caliber students from all around the world. This has led to a change in demographics in the Newbury Park High School community. This change will continue to take place in coming years as more students join the school.
[edit] Recent News
During the beginning of the 2006 school year, former principal Max Beaman left his position to become the Director of Secondary Education for the Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD). Vice-Principle Athol Wong became the new principal. On her first day as principal, an unidentified caller left a message on the school's answering machine saying that a device was on campus. For precautionary reasons, all of the students were sent home. No such device was found on campus, which was not surprising because there had been similar hoaxes in other high schools in the area during that same time.
Within the past year, NPHS has received a major technological overhaul. This includes the addition of over twenty brand new computers donated by the NPHS Associated Student Government. Also, a new computer grading and attendance system, Zangle, was implemented at the beginning of the school year. Ideally, the purpose of this program was to have an integrated system where parents would be able to check their students' grades and attendance online. However, the installation of Zangle took over eight months, and for the first semester of the 2006-2007 school year, students did not have access to their grades. Overall, while their are some minor glitches currently, the program shows great promise for the future.
In late 2006 Newbury Park High School was notified that it was a recipient of the No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Award. This was due to the work of Principal Wong, who worked tirelessly during the 2005-2006 school year for this honor. NPHS was one of 35 California schools to win this award.
